L A N A

"Can someone help me with this problem?" Isha asked as Everett and I approached The Sirens' usual table in the cafeteria the next day.

Kiana glanced at it and raised her brows. "I think I lost brain cells just by looking at it."

Isha looked at Jada with a pleading pout. Jada raised a brow. "You seriously think I have brain cells for this?"

"I can help," Everett suddenly said, carefully. Puzzled and surprised, the girls, Diego and Kiana glanced at him, at me, and then back at him. I felt the eyes of all the students in the cafeteria on us, whispering and staring.

"Can Everett sit with us today?" I asked.

They glanced at each other before surprisingly smiling. Isha then said, "Sure. Make yourself comfortable, prez."

"I guess everyone has brought a date to lunch today," Jada said, glancing at Kiana who sat next to Isha, Diego who was seated next to Carmen with his arm around her shoulders while she was showing him something on her phone, and lastly Everett who took the empty seat next to me.

"Maybe you should've brought someone too," Kiana suggested and Carmen and Isha laughed and I almost did too. A smile managed to spread across my face though. We knew how much Jada hated people. Plus, she wasn't attracted to boys or girls or any gender. However, she did have a keen eye for money and booze though.

"Ew. No. That's disgusting. Never gonna happen."

Exactly.

"Lana. I don't think we've ever spoken before. It's cool to meet you. I'm Diego," Carmen's new boyfriend said with a friendly smile. My gaze met Diego's brown eyes. He had a sharp jaw, handsome face, and tan skin. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and was dressed in black jeans, a white tee, and a leather jacket. Every inch of him gave off underground racer vibes. He was definitely Carmen's type.

"Yeah. Cool to meet you too," I said briefly, offering a small smile of my own. Carmen smiled at me and then at Diego before reaching for his hand on the table and lacing her fingers with his. The happiness radiating from her warmed my chest.  

"So, Weston. How did you manage to become such good friends with Lana that she invited you to have lunch with us?" Jada asked, curiously watching him with narrowed eyes.

Everett looked up from Isha's notebook where she had scribbled the math problem and met Jada's gaze. However, instead of answering my question, he glanced at me with curiosity across his face.

"He likes Mario Kart," I said, bluntly.

Everyone around the table burst out laughing. Everett grinned widely at me.

"Seriously? That's all it took?"

"He rambles a lot too," I added.
They laughed again while Everett's cheeks blushed bright red and he shyly dropped his gaze back on Isha's notebook. I couldn't contain my smile.

"Consider yourself lucky, Weston. It's not every day Lana Takumi makes a friend and lets him eat lunch with us and smiles like that," Carmen said, pointing at my smile with her spoon.

Everett smiled proudly and as the others fell into conversation about how much I despised making friends and socializing in general, Everett said very quietly but just loud enough for me to hear, "Yeah. I guess I am lucky."

~

"Your friends are actually really nice," Everett said an hour after school had ended. Everett and I stayed behind in the student council room, doing our math homework together.

Well, I finished mine already and was now seated with my legs crossed on the table across from Everett who was hunched over the table, head hung low as he was scribbling calculations in his notebook.  

I was playing Mario Kart and was busy getting Shy guy in the first place when I looked up from my game and met Everett's warm brown eyes set on me.

"Our friends," I corrected him.

Everett smiled. "I mean it though. The Sirens purposely let the town dehumanize them but you all are genuinely humble and natural. Jada isn't scary unless you piss her off. Carmen's protective but she's chill and cool. Isha is kind and friendly."

"And me?"

He suddenly looked at me admiringly. "You? You're lazy, stoic, seem cold and act like you don't care about anything, but you're a softie, selfless and understanding as I've gotten to know you. You kinda hated me but I got to you."

"I didn't hate you," I corrected him again, this time feeling slightly guilty that I made him think I did. Everett chuckled and got up from his seat by pushing his chair back and jumped on the desk next to me, our shoulders lightly brushing against each other.

"You mean that?" He asked, raising his brows, teasingly. Now that we were looking into each other eyes, his face felt close to mine. Usually, I would've jumped away by this closeness, but while a part of me wanted exactly to do that, another part of me wondered what would happen if I moved closer.

"Yes," I whispered, suddenly breathless. My heart was thundering in my chest.

"That's funny because most of the time you looked like you wanted to punch me in the face."

"Only when you rambled," I confessed, quietly.

"And what about now?" He grinned.

I avoided his gaze while mumbling, "I guess, it's kinda cute."

Everett tipped his head back and laughed. I scowled and mock-punched his jaw. His laugh suddenly faded when my palm continued to rest against his cheek. I was about to pull away but Everett covered his palm over my hand. My heart did a small jump in my chest and I swallowed hard.

His face was so close to mine, soft strands of his hair hanging over his eye, tickled against my skin. When his lips almost brushed mine, I felt my heart almost stop and it was like the fear button flicked on.

"No!" I hastily whispered and backed away rapidly as if his touch burned me.

Everett jumped back, panic washing over his eyes. "Lana. I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"No, no, no. Stay away. Please, just stay away." I wedged my back against the wall while pressing my palms against the sides of my head as horrible memories that I had tried so hard to keep buried crawled out and flashed across my mind.

Sweat broke out across my skin and I felt tears roll down my cheeks as I breathed heavily, my heart pounding in my chest.
Everett was talking to me in a panicked voice but the sight of him was a blur and his words to me were just a jumble of sentences.

The room was spinning and my legs started shaking as I bolted out and raced towards the women's bathroom while my vision was still clear. As soon as I entered one of the empty stalls and locked myself in, my legs gave out and my knees hit the floor and dark spots started dotting my vision.

No, no, no! Why did he do that? Why did I lead him on? Why was I so stupid? There was no way...No way for me to be with him or any guy.

I stayed in the bathroom stall for a am hour. I had cried until my head was pounding and finally got up to my feet when I felt I had some sense of control over my body and vision again. Struggling to my feet, I stepped out of the bathroom and didn't dare to glance at the mirror. Eventually, I left the school building.

My heart was still pounding in my chest as I was hurriedly limping across the empty parking lot to get to my bike. However, I slowed in my tracks when my gaze froze on a trail of red dots on the ground. Was that...blood?

Swallowing hard, I slowly followed the trail until I saw it. Saw her. She was seated against a black car, staring ahead with a hollow look in her eyes while her face and clothes were covered with blood and dirt. She had a black eye and a gash on her forehead and her arms were covered in cuts that were oozing with blood.

I couldn't speak. Everything seemed to slow around me. And all I could think was; please don't let this be real. I can't live with this being real.

Still in shock, I dropped on my knees in front of her and shakily gripped her shoulders. "Isha?"

She remained silent and still like a corpse with eyes open. All the light from her brown eyes that were always filled with warmth and kindness was wiped out.

"Isha, please say something," I whispered, sobbing.

"Carlos and his boys."

I froze and I felt my heart stop for a second once again.

Carlos and his boys. The words echoed repeatedly in my head until I felt numb.

I was on the verge of passing out but pulled myself together for Isha. I cupped her cheeks, letting the blood and dirt on them stain my palms. "It's okay. I'm here. Okay? I'm here."

She needed to go to the hospital. I had to get her there quickly. She looked like she was about to faint. I quickly fumbled for my phone but when I turned it on, the screen remained black. It was out of battery. I looked around but the parking lot was empty except for this one car Isha was seated against. The school building was empty too. It had been over two hours since the last period ended.

I couldn't carry her to the hospital because of my stupid foot. I felt so useless. More tears streamed down my cheeks.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I clenched my jaw and touched Isha's forehead with mine when she suddenly whimpered. She was in pain and I couldn't do shit to help her.  

"Lana?" A familiar voice sparked hope within me.

I glanced to the side and found Everett approaching us. He was carrying my backpack in his hands. He had a worried look on his face but it grew into horror when Isha came to sight.

"Isha!" He reached for her, taking in the wounded sight of her with a horrified face. "What the hell happened?"

"Carlos," I whispered.

Everett furrowed his brows but then quickly said, "We need to get her to hospital. Let's get her into the car."

I blinked as I watched him unlock the black car behind Isha and then pick Isha up in his arms.

"This is your car?"

Everett nodded. "Yeah. Quick. Open the door and get in with her."

I did as he said. I got up and pulled the car's door open and got in myself before letting Everett lay Isha down beside me with her head in my lap. He then hurriedly settled into the driver's seat and drove us out of the parking lot and down the street.

Isha squeezed my hand as she kept wincing in pain. I kept stroking her hair while my heart kept thundering in my chest and my whole was body shaking. This was not out how I excepted this day to turn out.

****

Author's note: Hi! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things didn't turn out great in this one but I hope you're excited about upcoming chapters.

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